Active COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations decline in South Dakota

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - Both active coronavirus infections and current hospitalizations continued to trend downward in South Dakota on Tuesday, though the state also saw another jump in COVID-19 deaths.

The Department of Health reported 1,756 new cases, bringing the state’s total case count to 228,169.

However, those new cases were outpaced by recoveries, as active cases fell by over 1,600 to 30,559. Active infections rose for a month straight, peaking at over 38,000 on Jan. 24. But those numbers have declined every day since then.

Current hospitalizations have followed along with the same trend of the active cases in South Dakota. They rose sharply over the past month, peaking at 423 in late January, but have generally declined since then. Officials say current hospitalizations fell by nearly 30 Tuesday to 366.

The 10 additional COVID-19 deaths bring the state’s total to 2,660. One of the victims was under age 10, according to the Department of Health, marking the third coronavirus-related death of a child in South Dakota in the past month. The other victims included one person in their 50s, one in their 60s, three in their 70s, and four over age 80.

South Dakota’s test positivity rate over the past seven days is 32.3%. While this is lower than the rate seen in January, it is still far above the state’s cumulative average of 15.3%. The current national average is around 20%, according to Johns Hopkins University data.